MATTHEW
SHEPARD PLAY OPENS: A play about the murder of Matthew Shepard
opens in Laramie Wyoming, less than five miles from where Shepard
was killed. "Certain wounds attack so deep they can never
fully heal but this certainly helps the healing a lot." CNN.com
11/29/00

Wednesday
November 29

THEATRE
IN AUSTRALIA: "In the 1970s and early 1980s Australian
theatre was seen as part of an integral social debate about national
identity and self confidence. The advent of serious arts funding
came out of clearly articulated statements on the importance of
the arts, and our politicians were well versed in the reasons
why a funded arts environment was important to a social system.
The arts were seen as a necessary expense, like roads or water."
Now we should enjoy the rewards. Sydney
Morning Herald 11/29/00

Tuesday
November 28

MACKINTOSH
TO QUIT PRODUCING: Superstar
musical theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh has announced he won't
be producing any more new musicals. "Mackintosh, one
of the greatest creative and financial mainstays of musical theatre
for three decades, says he is winding down and will in future
produce only revivals."Sydney Morning Herald
11/28/00

SPACEY
HELPS THEATRES:
Actor Kevin Spacey has been using his financial success and fame
to help out theatre companies. "I think it's unfortunate
that people use theater as a stepping stone to film and then they
don't come back. I never viewed it that way."
The New York Times 11/28/00 (one-time registration required for
access)

Sunday
November 26

THE
SHOW THAT NEVER DIED: When Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap"
opened in London's West End, Churchill was still Prime Minister.
"Meat, sugar, butter and margarine were still being rationed.
Stalin was lording it in Russia. Nobody had climbed Everest, or
run a four-minute mile. It was another world." Now the show
is ambling on to its 20,000th performance. The
Sunday Times (London) 11/26/00

THE
REPLACEMENTS: What happens when a hit show has to replace
its star? The New York Post follows around an actor preparing
to step in to "Cabaret." New
York Post 11/26/00

STILL
STANDING: Arthur Miller is about to open another play on Broadway.
And he's about to turn 85. "Over the years, the critics have
been all over the lot when it comes to judging Miller's work.
But in 1984, the critics and the public began re-examining Miller.
And most of them liked what they found. So when he accepted the
Tony for 'Death of a Salesman' last year, it wasn't without a
sense of well-earned, well-honed, irony - a sense that he's been
one of the victims in 'The Crucible' who finally got the chance
to put his torturers on trial." Boston
Globe 11/26/00

THE
REVIEWER-PROOF SCROOGE: It's "Christmas Carol" time
of year again. "Oh, please, Father Christmas, put a stake
in its heart! Put it on a boat to Hong Kong! Give those annoyingly
noble Cratchits a winning lottery ticket and let them have all
the oranges they want! Cook their geese, flame their puddings,
and please, burn their chestnuts into ashes." Washington
Post 11/26/00

Friday
November 24

THE
COST OF "RESTORATION": The Shubert company, Broadway's
biggest and richest landlord, has announced it will add a $1.25
"facilities charge" to the cost of every ticket for
shows opening after January 1. The company says it needs the money
for preservation and maintenance of its theatres. The company
stands to make as much as $1,900 for each performance or $60,000
per month per theatre.New
York Post 11/24/00

LEARNING
FROM THE MASTERS: "Compared to other art forms, theatre
has been slow to tap into the vast reserves of experience and
expertise within its senior ranks. There's a long-standing tradition
of musical virtuosi having regular teaching assignments in between
performances; whereas, as Peter Hall has observed, theatre 'tends
to be divided into two distinct camps: busy professionals and
those who teach'." A program in London's West End tries to
change that. The
Independent (London) 11/24/00

Thursday
November 23

LANGE’S
TRIUMPH:
In contrast to the string of American film stars who have taken
on London stage roles in recent months and met with tepid (if
not downright surly) reviews, Jessica Lange has bowled over critics
as Mary in "Long Day’s Journey into Night" - in a performance
being lauded as a masterpiece. The
Times (London) 11/23/00

Wednesday
November 22

MANHATTAN
ON BROADWAY: One of New York's most venerable non-profit theatres
makes a play to take over the deteriorating Biltmore Theatre on
Broadway. "The Biltmore would make Manhattan Theater Club
productions Tony-eligible, which brings national exposure and
a potential boost to ticket sales. The Biltmore will allow the
theater club to have an orchestra pit for the first time, and
fly space for scenery. New
York Times 11/22/00 (one-time registration required for access)

THE
WHIFF OF FLOP IN THE AIR: A few short months ago, "Seussical"
the musical looked like the season's sure-fire hit on Broadway.
But when it opens next week "it arrives a wounded animal,
bloodied by brutal out-of-town notices and months of backstage
gossip, with the moniker 'troubled' clinging to its hide like
a tick. It has a new director, set designer and costume designer,
and an entirely new physical production. Its book has been substantially
revised, and its budget has soared from $8.5 million to $10.5
million." New
York Post 11/22/00

Tuesday
November 21

LAMENTING
A BRILLIANT PARTNERSHIP: Arthur Sullivan was made famous and
very rich by his collaboration with William Gilbert. And the musical
plays they wrote are still performed 100 years after Sullivan's
death (the anniversary of which is this week). So why did he die
believing he had wasted his life and cursing his partner? The
Times (London) 11/21/00

Monday
November 20

NUNN
TO QUIT NATIONAL: Trevor Nunn says he won't seek a new term
as head of London's National Theatre when his contract expires
in 2002. Criticism of Nunn has flourished in recent months in
the press. "Sources at the National said Nunn had been "intensely
irritated" by the criticisms, given the number of awards
and sell-outs during his regime." The
Independent (London) 11/20/00

PACINO
TO THE OLD VIC? Kevin Spacey's campaign to help restore the
status of the Old Vic Theatre in London continues with a pledge
to try and lure Hollywood stars. Al Pacino might be the first.
The
Independent (London) 11/20/00

THE
SOUND OF DISHARMONY: A national small-city tour of a revival
of "The Sound of Music" couldn't make an agreement with
Equity, the actors' union. So it went non-union and began the
tour. The only star - Barry Williams (formerly of TV's "The
Brady Bunch") resigned his union membership to take the part.
Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette 11/20/00

Sunday
November 19

RIGHTING
WRONGS SELDOM WORKS: "Within my memory, there has not
been a successful major revival with a revamped book of a problematic
show. Yet the lure of going back in time to make things rights
persists. Composers sometimes yearn to solve the problems that
weren't addressed when the show was in try-outs in Boston, Philadelphia
or New Haven. If only they had just a little more time, a little
more money, a little more luck." Hartford
Courant 11/19/00

Friday
November 17

ANOTHER
DAY AT THE OFFICE: David Shiner, the star of the troubled
musical "Seussical," apparaently can't sing, dance or
act. In trying to fix the show before it opens for real on Broadway
November 30, the producers decide to replace him with Andrea Martin.
But the show's creative team fights the move. New
York Post 11/17/00

Thursday
November 16

LEGEND
LIVES:
Indian film star Rajkumar has been released after being held hostage
for 109 days in a forest by one of India’s most notorious bandits.
The kidnapping saga had gripped India for months, inciting riots
and an outpouring of emotion for the former matinee idol. BBC
11/15/00

THE
UNION LABEL:
The Screen Actors Guild may have recently settled the strike with
Hollywood's commercial producers, but an internal report says
the union is fractured and lacking focus. "SAG lacks a clear,
shared mission and strategy, which is the foundation of an effective
organization," the report says. "There is no consensus
regarding SAG's mission, which is essential for establishing a
shared consensus about SAG's goals."
Backstage 11/16/00

Wednesday
November 15

THE
WRITING'S ON THE WALL:
Supertitles have become common in opera houses. But what about
the theatre? No, not for translation purposes - the Royal Shakespeare
Company experiments with using supertitles to aid audience members
who are hard of hearing. The
Guardian 11/15/00

Tuesday
November 14

WORLD
REFERENCE: It was a project that was supposed to take a year
or so. But the six-volume World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre,
just released, ended up as a 15 year project that always seemed
to be about a year behind in its funding. National
Post (Canada) 11/14/00

BOW
WOW: "London's West End, after a recent extraordinary
period of revitalisation, has gone to the dogs. That's the worry
voiced by many London critics in the last couple of months."
And it's not just star casting that's to blame. The
Independent (London) 11/12/00

NUNN
UNDER FIRE: The chorus of boos for London's National Theatre
director Trevor Nunn is growing. "Like circling vultures,
half of what used to be called Fleet Street have pounced on the
events and suddenly accused Nunn of every sin in the book: artistic
incompetence, overspending, pandering to white middle-aged audiences,
sticking to the boring programming of safe, well-tried classics
or musicals at the expense of cutting-edge contemporary drama
and, last but not least, of arrogance for trying to run the ship
himself and not appointing associate directors to help him pick
plays for the National's three stages." Is the criticism
justified? The
Telegraph (London) 11/14/00

BRINGING
IN THE YOUTH VOTE: Last year "in a survey of 10 to 14-year-olds
in Birmingham and Norwich, fewer than one in a hundred listed
theatre as one of his or her preferred weekend activities, whereas
100 per cent of the sample were cinemagoers. Many dismissed theatres
as “overpriced, stuffy and unfriendly”, offering plays that were
either 'babyish or too serious'." Now an attempt to get kids
into the theatre. The
Times (London) 11/14/00

THE
PROBLEM WITH "SEUSSICAL": As the fall Broadway season
began, "Seussical" the musical was considered the hot
property. But after unhappy road tryouts, the show has floundered.
"How the charmed musical that could do no wrong turned into
the 'troubled Suessical' that could do no right has become a parable
about how much Broadway has changed. What in the past might have
gone unremarked as a new show's routinely bumpy road to Broadway
instead became a matter for public scrutiny." New
York Times 11/14/00 (one-time registrationrequired for entry)

HELP
FOR THE PUBLIC: The Public Theatre, under fire recently for
some of the artistic and business decisions that have been mwade,
gets some expert help. New
York Times 11/14/00 (one-time registrationrequired for entry)

Monday
November 13

FUNDING
ENVY:
Sydney Theatre Company Artistic Director Robyn Nevin said in a
recent lecture that the Australian government's long-awaited arts
blueprint - which was intended to increase funding for performing
arts organizations - has in fact fallen far short of delivering
enough funding to enable the theater to thrive. By comparison,
"Britain's National Theatre received 20 times the subsidy
granted to the STC though its audience base was half that of Sydney's
and its average ticket prices were about 40 per cent higher."
Sydney
Morning Herald 11/13/00

PINTER
BY HIS PEERS:
Harold Pinter’s theater-world friends discuss the man many consider
to be England’s greatest living playwright. The 40th anniversary
production of his play "The Caretaker" is about to open
in the West End, and Pinter has four new plays under his belt
in the last decade. The
Telegraph (London) 11/13/00

DYNAMICS
OF A DEANSHIP:
The storied Yale theatre school is looking for a new dean. The
days when the president of the university can call up his candidate
and just offer him the job, but the speculation is still fun.
Hartford
Courant 11/13/00

Friday
November 10

JEKYLL
AND HYDE TO CLOSE: It ran for three years and 1,500 performances.
But when it closes in January the musical "Jekyll and Hyde"
will still be $1.5 million in the red. The show was despised by
critics but gained something of a cult following. New York Times
11/10/00 (one-time registration required for entry)

PLAYWRIGHT
OF THE DAY: "Patrick Marber's lean, darkly funny writing
has led some to dub him the heir to Pinter. Marber scorns the
comparison - "Most younger writers are influenced by Pinter;
I'm as much influenced by Stoppard and Oscar Wilde." The
Guardian (London) 11/09/00

SAVING
MUSICAL THEATRE: "In an era when people who care bemoan
the state of musical theater and wonder where future shows will
come from, Hal Prince and his grown chidren are committing their
prominence, connections and expertise to support and call attention
to a new generation of composers." New
York Times 11/09/00 (one-time registration required for entry)

Wednesday
November 8

HONORING
THE MAN AND THE METHOD:
The family of the late acting teacher Lee Strasberg, founder of
"the method" and cofounder of the legendary Group Theatre,
plans to commemorate the centennial of his birth this year by
producing a season of new plays by emerging playwrights in Los
Angeles. Times
of India (Reuters) 11/08/00

STARSTRUCK
BEYOND REASON:
Isabelle Adjani’s return to the stage in "Lady of the Camellias,"
after a 17-year absence, has transfixed Paris’s theater audiences
this fall. More than 50,000 tickets have been sold for just 100
performances and the press has gushed over her return. But little
has been said of her actual performance. "Is she any good
on stage? To some extent, that's beside the point. Basking in
her stage aura is all that a good many people in France seem to
want to do. This is not to single out French theatre-goers. The
same is true in the West End and on Broadway. When a big star
hits the boards, no one cares what the critics think." The
Guardian (London) 11/08/00

Tuesday
November 7

COLOR
BIND: The number of minority actors in theater productions
on Broadway is dwindling - and most of those working are either
in choruses or race-specific parts, rarely getting a chance at
major roles. "A report by Actors' Equity shows a sharp dip
in the number of minorities on stage. In musical productions,
nonwhite casting was 19.3 percent during the 1999 season, down
from 31.2 percent the year before. In nonmusical productions,
the numbers for 1999 - the last time such a study was conducted
- were even more bleak, with only 7.2 percent of casts drawn from
ethnic minorities, down from 8.5 percent in 1998." Seattle
Times (New York Daily News) 11/07/00

A
HISTORY OF THE THEATRE: Theatre is a vanishing art - that
is, once produced on a stage it recedes into memory, and even
a film of a performance can't truly capture its essence. So how
do you produce a TV history of the theatre? "Sir Richard
Eyre, doyen of British theatre, has produced a history of 20th-century
stagecraft. He says it won't please everyone.
The Independent (London) 11/07/00

Sunday
November 5

REGIONALS
TAKE ON THE GLITZ: The $8 million production of "Tantalus"
at the Denver Center is the most ambitious production ever mounted
by an American regional theatre. Tantalus, a co-production with
London's Royal Shakespeare Company, got mixed reviews nationally,
and is only the latest in a line of glitzy high-profile cooperative
projects by American regional theatres. Why are non-profit theatres
taking on these productions?
Dallas Morning News 11/05/00

WAS
SHAKESPEARE A POT-HEAD? "Two South African scientists
are about to embark on a series of forensic tests to prove a case
that will blow smoke in the eyes of traditional Shakespearean
scholarship. They believe that the man who bestrides the classical
canon was not just a genius, but a very early pot head."
The
Independent (London) 11/05/00

Friday
November 3

STRAIGHTEN
UP: A year ago critics were wringing their hands about the
absence of new straight plays on Broadway and the fear that musicals
might have taken over completely. The fears were unfounded. This
fall tells a very different story. Variety
11/03/00

PICASSO
& MARTIN TO THE BIG SCREEN: Hollywood to make a movie
out of Steve Martin's play "Picasso at the Lapin Agile."
"The play, which preemed at the Steppenwolf Studio Theater
in Chicago in 1993 before moving to New York, Los Angeles and
San Francisco, is a comedy about a night in 1904 when Pablo Picasso
and Albert Einstein meet by chance in a bar." Variety
11/03/00

Wednesday
November 1

THINK
YOU'VE GOT PROBLEMS: The new musical now in development about
the life of Minnesota governor/wrestler Jesse Ventura is full
of special needs. As in - "We'll need to find someone who
can sing, act, dance - and wrestle.'' St.
Paul Pioneer Press 11/01/00